Boston’s Roadmap To Becoming a Smart City

From Faneuil Hall to the Old North Church, Boston is jam-packed with historical sites. With anything, progress takes time. Boston is implementing changes all over the city in its path towards becoming a ‘smart city.’ A smart city is as an urban area that uses different types of electronic data collection sensors to supply information which is used to manage assets and resources efficiently. Calling on IoT developed from the public and private sector, Boston has several initiatives that are pushing it further into the smart city category.

Smart Streets

One of the first steps is Boston’s implementation of smart street sensors installed on Massachusettes Ave and Beacon Street. The ‘Vision Zero’ initiative’s goal is to end serious traffic accidents by analyzing the movement of drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. Through the installation of cameras, LED lights, and sensors, they hope to capture long-term data to understand better what is happening on the roads.

Self-Driving Cars

Lyft, partnering with the self-driving automotive software company, nuTonomy, began testing their first line of self-driving cars in the Seaport district of Boston. This ride gives a select few the futuristic experience while at the same time generating buzz for Lyft against the other ride-sharing mogul, Uber. These cars have a driver on board in case manual intervention is needed during the testing phase.

Smart Bike Sharing

Residents of Boston may also have noticed Hubway stations appearing throughout the city. Hubway is a bike sharing system where app users can see real-time availability of bikes in their area. This initiative is to combat harmful emissions into the atmosphere. These bikes, combined with Boston’s Emerald Network, seeks to finish more greenway paths throughout Boston to make emission output as low as possible.

Smart City IoT

These are only a few of the additions being added to the Boston area. The IoT landscape, especially for smart cities, is on the rise. Everything from smart bus stops to smart parking spaces. Sensors and analysis of the data collected from these sensors are the building blocks of converting a city into a smart city. With all of the initiatives in their infant stages, there is plenty of room for new jobs with hard skills needed. Get the skills in IoT and Data analysis you need from Level.